The LeBron James of Programmers

How should Hyper Performers be Judged and Compensated? (How to Make the Case for a Raise)

I'm often asked questions about compensation by both employers and candidates, such as:

• What is a fair salary for this position?
• Why can't I find a higher salary?
• Why can't I find and attract top talent?
• What skills pay the most?
• How can I get a raise?

For many years, I have wondered why a great programmer (one who is 10x as productive as a poor programmer) doesn't make 10x the income.

There are a number of factors, as described in The Myth of the Bell Curve, but that only explains part of the discrepancy. Even if we agreed that a programmer is 3x as productive, are we willing to pay 3x more? Should we be willing to pay 5x more once you take into account the fixed overhead, such as health insurance, and indirect savings through making others more efficient?

I find that the missing piece is a shared understanding of how to measure the minimum skills required for the job. Because I think the question that dictates programmer salaries is, "Who is the least qualified programmer I can get to do the job?" In another post, I'll try to cover how low-rate programmers cost companies more, but the focus of this post is the hyper performer.

How Much is LeBron James worth as a Programmer?

The average NBA player's salary is about $5,000,000.

The lowest-paid NBA players, like poor Mario West, make about $25,000.

Kobe Bryant makes about $30,000,000 but his salary is an outlier; the top 10 players average about $20,000,000.

LeBron James, widely considered the best player in the world, makes a little less than $20,000,000. He could make more, but he agreed to a lower salary in order to keep the Miami Heat under the salary cap while attracting top teammates. Not to worry, his endorsements raise his total haul to around $60,000,000 per year.

I've been using all the zeroes in the preceding numbers, instead of abbreviations such as $25K or $20M, so you could appreciate the orders-of-magnitude difference in compensation.

Please note:

• The highest-paid players make about 1000x the salary of the lowest-paid players.

• The top 10 players (top 1.7% of 565 players) each make about 4x the average player and 800x the lowest-paid players.

• Even the lowest-paid players are all incredible athletes who have made the NBA. They are undoubtedly better than the vast majority of college and undrafted players who are not in the NBA, and perhaps better than players in other leagues throughout the world.

How much am I worth as a Basketball Player?

 

Instead of trying to evaluate my worth as a basketball player, in the aggregate sense, let's narrow it down to some specific metrics by which a basketball player can be evaluated, such as free-throw shooting.

How much am I worth as a Free-Throw Shooter?

 

Let's suppose that LeBron James and I are having a free-throw shooting contest (foul shots).

His career free-throw percentage is about 75%. Let's assume mine is about 25% (I can dream).

So, is LeBron worth only 3x me as a free-throw shooter? Perhaps.

Now, let's change it to a game situation, in which LeBron James earns 7.6 free throw attempts per game, because if they don't foul him, he is going to score anyway.

If I was in the NBA, and I played as many minutes and took as many shots as LeBron, I'd average zero free throw attempts per game, because no one would ever both fouling me ("He's open for a reason.") Let's be generous and assume I make 1 free-throw per game.

So, as a free-throw shooter, LeBron is worth at least 7.6x as me.

How much am I worth as a Three-Point Shooter or Slam Dunker?

 

Now let's imagine I have to make some three-point shots (about 23 feet away from the basket). With no defender, I might make 1 shot in 10 from the three-point line.  LeBron makes about 36.5% of his three-point attempts in a game situation, which is only 80th in the league!

Maybe I'm worth more than I thought.

Now, instead, let's imagine we are in a slam dunk contest. Granted, this isn't required in a game, but let's pretend it is a job requirement.

How many times, out of 100 attempts, will LeBron successfully slam dunk the basketball? I'd guess about 95% of the time, even when doing trick dunks, judging from this video.

I have never dunked a basketball on a 10-foot rim without using a trampoline. I will never be able to dunk a basketball, even if I get my knee repaired.

So, if dunking a basketball is part of the job requirement, LeBron James isn't just 100x or 1,000x more valuable. He is infinitely more valuable, because I simply can't do the job.

How Much is LeBron James worth as a Programmer?

Now, let's imagine we're in my house. LeBron won't stand a chance.

Can LeBron:

• Write a Jenkins script?
• Configure SVN and train the team on best practices?
• Create a re-usable component?

I'm sure he is a smart guy who can do many things, but he presumably less of a programmer than Michael Jordan was a baseball player. (MJ made about $5/hour as a baseball player.)

How Much is a Great Programmer Worth?

 

So what are the factors that typically determine the low and high end of a programmer's salary?

The following are examples of things that cause downward pressure in your value as a programmer:

• Low level of skill required (basic HTML, or template work)
• Lots of repeat work required but not highly original (i.e., programming banner ads)
• High number of qualified applicants relative to job openings
• Easily outsourced or off-shored to lower wage markets
• Low-paying industry, because people think it is glamorous (fashion, sports, etc.)
• Low-paying because industry is not profitable (non-profits, dying businesses)
• Low-paying due to lack of capital (start-ups, mom & pop shops)
• Low paying due to poor stock market, IPO, or VC interest
• Cyclical or boom-bust downturn (2000 Tech crash, 2008 Recession)
• Dying technology with glut of existing programmers competing for declining number of roles.
• The geographical market pays little (college towns, etc.) due to low cost of living, etc.

The following are examples of things that cause upward pressure in your value as a programmer:

• High level of specialized skill required (quant, enterprise architecture, big data)
• Highly original or creative work (award-winning advertising or game design)
• Low number of qualified applicants relative to job openings
• Harder to outsource or off-shore due to time constraints, security restrictions, or high degree of communication required
• Historically high-paying industry (finance, etc.)
• High-paying because industry is highly profitable (pharma, energy)
• High-paying due to stock options (Facebook, Google, etc.)
• New technology with shortage of existing programmers (iOS, Objective C, HTML5)
• Booming market due to IPO and VC interest
• The geographical market pays more (such as NYC) but business and living expenses tend to be much higher.

 

Are you Worth 10x Other Programmers?

The definition of "what you are worth" in a financial transaction is, "How much is a willing employer offering to pay you?"

You are highly unlikely to command 10x the salary of a "good enough" programmer, almost regardless of your skill.

Here are some things you can point out to your employer to help make your case that you are worth 2x or 3x what they are paying other programmers, but you'll be lucky to be paid 25% more.

If you are 10x as productive as other programmers, you'll probably be paid no more than 2x their salary.

Bruce's Law:

For each 100% improvement in productivity over other programmers, you are paid only 10% more in salary. LeBron James earns 4x the average NBA player's salary, and you are not LeBron James.


May these Odds be Ever in Your Favor:

• You can perform some critical programming in time for a deadline that others can't meet
• You have a unique skill that other programmers simply don't have
• You can fix and debug things 10x faster due to your superior architecture skills, reusable components, and debugging skills
• You raise the level of all the developers, and make the team more productive
• You shorten time to market
• You shorten the QA cycle and let them hire fewer QA staff
• You wear multiple hats, so they don't have to hire other programmers to do those roles

All of the above pale in comparison to the one reason that give you the most leverage:

• You have another job offer and are willing to walk away

Conclusion

There's an old saying, "You don't get what you're worth, you get what you negotiate." I'll cover some of the non-salary points for negotiation in another post.

When negotiating, remember:

• If job satisfaction is important to you, don't make it all about the money
• Software development is a team sport. LeBron James didn't win any championships by himself
• Work to improve yourself every day
• Make your teammates better
• Learn what your employer values

Best of luck in all your career pursuits.

Be sure to comment, like, share, or follow this blog, and check out the other posts on the right-hand side.

Top Ten Non-Technical Skills Software Developers Need

Why aren't I Rich Yet? (Part 1 of N)

 

Developers are often really good at logic, structures, software development, etc., and often not as good at other skills that are widely praised and highly valued by non-programmers.

This is the first of several posts on this topic in which I'll try to help programmers understand why their careers and compensation might not be advancing as fast as those of co-workers they consider not as smart, indispensable, or productive as they perceive themselves to be.

1. Reliability/Punctuality

Whoever said "90% of life is just showing up" perhaps underestimated. Programmers need to understand that they get more credit for showing up early than for staying late. If your business opens at 9:00 am, show up at 8:55. Don't stroll in at 9:45 just because the first meeting isn't until 10 am.

Programmers tend to be the last to arrive and the last to leave, and often work many hours at home, at night, and on weekends. Sorry, but you get almost no credit for those things in your boss's mind. To the contrary, they interpret it as you being lazy, undisciplined, and inefficient in the use of your time.

I'm not saying those things are true, but you have to recognize that as the perception.

Programmers are often seen as flaky if they are hot and cold. One week, they may kick ass, and then next week they may be largely AWOL or burnt out. This happens especially with contractors who have to juggle multiple clients. I'll leave an in-depth discussion of this issue for a future post. Suffice to say, employers don't care what else you have going on. They want you 100% available for their task. Within an organization, you'll see the same phenomenon. If two project managers want you working on their project, they tend to underestimate the time you have to spend on another project.

2. Written and Verbal Communication

Learn to speak at a level non-technical people can understand. Hint: Ask questions, and say things at a much less technical and detailed level than you'd like (that will be the subject of a future post).

You need to be able to tone down the geek-speak in order to communicate with others along their wavelength, emphasizing a) what they can understand; and b) what matters to them.

For example, saying “We need a RAID array” is not helpful. You need to say, “If we don't invest in a more reliable disk, our business will be adversely affected when it crashes.” Better yet, add, "Here are three quotes from reputable vendors for the hardware we need. I think we should go with Vendor A for $2,500 when we have the budget for it. I think this will be critical by May, so I'll remind you in April. If we don't deal with it by June, it will likely cost us $50K in lost productivity and downtime, so it is wise to invest in it now."

Learn to write intelligibly. I've worked with many programmers who can't spell, even when English is their first language. It is simply not acceptable to mix up “too” and “two,” especially when your email will be read by non-native speakers who don't understand English homophones and are easily thrown off track by typos.

For example, suppose I wrote, "Test the Reporting module too," but meant for the person to test the second Reporting module ("module two") thoroughly. It might lead the tester to test the Reporting module "too" (i.e.,  superficially, in addition to the other modules).

Or imagine that I am working with a tester on Module A and Module B, but I confuse them in an email. A native speaker will usually detect the error from context and request clarification. For several reasons, a non-native speaker will tend to just take the instructions at face value, and end up testing the wrong module.

There is also a huge need to learn to make a competent PowerPoint, which requires both verbal and sometimes graphic communication.

3. Understand Schedules and Time Estimates

Your job as a developer is not to program software. Your job is to help the business make a profit by publishing software in a timely manner. 'Tis better to deliver adequate software on time than to blow through deadlines like a case of Red Bull.

You are expected, as a programmer, to be able to estimate accurately how long something will take. Learning this skill is a long and sordid tale, which I'll take up in future blog posts. The first step is to admit you have a problem. If the software is late, stop looking around for others to blame, and realize you have the power to improve the time estimates and affect the schedule moving forward.

4. Understand Budgets and Cost Tradeoffs 

Understand bang-for-the-buck calculations and understand the business value attributable to any software decision you undertake. What is the cost of extra QA, of being late to market, of hiring the wrong developer for the wrong role?

Don't spend time writing something by hand that can be better obtained off the shelf for less (and faster). Don't be afraid to hire an expert in the short-term that will get the product to market faster and make the company money in the longer term.

And when architecting a solution, don't neglect the ongoing cost of supporting that product. For example, if you are generating huge amounts of video traffic that is costing the company $100K/month to serve, you may need to revisit your bandwidth calculations. Can you get by with lower-bandwidth video that will cost the company much less each month? If you don't understand your bandwidth, server, hosting, and hardware costs, then you should ask someone in the company who does.

5. Patience

Developers tend to be smart and impatient. Businesses tend to make decisions over months and years. Developers tend to want it done today. Are you working in a start-up or a large conglomerate? Is there a big IT dept and a formal process for server deployments? Align your expectations with the reality of the business.

6. Managing Stress, Sleep, and Tempers

It is not acceptable to be snippy with co-workers because you pulled an all-nighter. You are expected to manage your behavior even when you are sick and tired, and even if you are overdue for a smoke break. If you can't behave, then send a polite email calling in sick. If you can't manage the stress of the industry you are in--advertising has notoriously high stress and tight deadlines--then try a different industry.

Take care of yourself physically. You need to get adequate sleep, food, exercise, etc. You need to shower, shave, and dress appropriately. Showing up unshaven in T-shirts and torn jeans just doesn't cut it. Grow up. Get some sun. Wear a decent pair of slacks.

7. Talk to people Outside your Dept

Be sure to talk to people in customer support, marketing, sales, and business development. Understand their needs and frustrations. Establish a relationship so that everything isn't adversarial.

Reach out to other departments to find out how you can help advance the business's interests. Here is an easy line to use as your fallback: "What is the most important thing I can do as the developer to help you in meeting the company's goals?"

The answer will often be that they need demos, sales sheets, predictable schedules, etc.

It is your responsibility as a developer to help the business, not just program software. You can't do that if you don't understand the business. Ask to go to a trade show, sales call, sales meeting, etc. You'll learn a huge amount.

Bonus: It feels great to see people actually using and benefitting from your software.

8. Handle Feedback and Criticism

Be open to feedback, and don't take criticism personally. We all make mistakes. Own up to yours, and work to fix the issue.

The major challenge is when someone criticizes you for something that you think is unimportant or not your fault. For example, if someone says, "Your code has a bug," you'll probably agree and fix it happily. But if someone says, "We need you to spend more time with the product manager and then write the spec," your initial reaction is probably going to be, "That's his job, not mine, so screw that."

Try to hear it in a different way. Maybe your boss is really saying, "You have expertise that no one else has, and the project manager really isn't capable of writing specs without you." It is high praise that appears to be negative feedback or criticism that you didn't do the task earlier. If you treat it as punishment, it is a missed opportunity. If you are doing the other things on this list, it will help your boss see you as someone who can willingly handle new tasks and responsibilities. That's how you get a bigger raise.

When in doubt, treat it like you are a baseball pitcher. The umpire will call some balls and some strikes. You'll give up some hits and make some strikeouts. There will be some fielding errors by your teammates. No one else expects perfection of you. They do expect you to take feedback professionally and adjust accordingly.

9. Take Ownership without being Territorial

Don't wait for someone else to move the project along. You weren't hired to be a cog in a wheel. If you see something that needs attention, bring the necessary attention to it. For example, if you are supposed to fix one dialog box, and you notice all the dialog boxes have the same problem, consider fixing them all (or at least raise the issue at the next meeting).

And don't be territorial - nothing is so tiresome as a defensive and territorial programmer.

10. Think Beyond your Current Assignment or Own Project

Suppose you are being asked to optimize a software product, and you realize that another software product (outside your assignment) has the same issue. Bring it to someone's attention. Example, when using Product A, customers have complained that the popup blocker prevents the “Save File” dialog box from appearing. Chances are, the same thing occurs in Product B. In an ideal world, the code would be centralized and could be fixed for both products at once, but if not, bring it to the attention of the Product B team. Maybe they already fixed it, or maybe they can implement your fix in their product.

Conversely, when someone from an outside team brings something to your attention that might affect your project, be open to it. See items 8 and 9.

Conclusion

 

You are a smart person and a great programmer. If you are not getting ahead in your career, it is because you are being measured against other metrics where you are weaker.

These tend to be the softer, emotional-intelligence skills, such as collaboration, consensus building, active listening, etc.

It took you many years to master programming.

The sooner you start working on these other skills, the sooner you'll see the beneficial impact on your career path.

Good luck!

Be sure to like, share, comment, follow, etc. And check out the other fine blog posts on the right-hand-side of this page, such as: Top Ten Things you Should Learn from Your Job Search and  Twenty-three Evergreen Developer Skills that will Keep you Employed Forever...

Twenty-three Evergreen Developer Skills that will Keep you Employed Forever...

...and Make You More Valuable and Productive to Potential Employers

Imagine you are either searching for a job or looking for a career change.

Think about the company you'd like to work for - whether it be a start-up, a midsize company, a multi-national, etc.

Now stop; you're going about your job search all wrong.

Instead, put yourself in the position of the hiring manager who is reviewing a stack of resumes. S/he doesn't know you or care about you (yet). S/he cares about the needs of the company. The only interest s/he has in you is whether you are the right person to fill that position, which means that, by definition, you need to be the candidate that will address the company's needs.

Technologies change, so no one programming language will keep you employed indefinitely, but many skills are evergreen. Highlighting these skills, in addition to having the core technical competency, such as Java, SQL, or HTML5, will greatly increase your success rate by differentiating you from other candidates.

Review the following list, assess your level of expertise, and think about how to introduce them in a natural way to your business communication. Be sure to touch on the relevant ones on your resume and your cover letter, and bring them up in the interview. If you don't have any of these skills, obtain them. Note: I am not advising you to say, "I use abstraction, so please hire me." Instead, you should address the business strength built atop the technical skill. More about this in the conclusion to this blog post.

1. Understand the relationship between the software development cycle and the company's business

Understanding the software development life cycle's (SDLC) relationship to the employer's sales cycle and business model is critical. If you understand the entire SDLC and the company's sales cycle and business model, you can make much more intelligent choices about how to allocate your time and attention. Without that information, you are likely to risk missing important deadlines, not understand how/when to prioritize features, and waste dev cycles.

For example, if the company sells to the educational market, perhaps any software demos that aren't completed by May will have to be delayed until September when school is back in session. Every business is going to have seasonal tradeshows that are key to sales.

You also need to consider how your employer gets paid by its customers. For example, if you are in the online advertising business, the primary client deliverable is a report showing how many ads were served and to whom. If you can't report ad views accurately, then the company won't get paid and repeat business will dry up.

So you need to learn to prioritize features that are important to the company's business. The easiest way to do this is to ask your boss and people in sales/marketing, “What is the most important thing I can do from a software standpoint to affect the business's bottom line?''

2. Version Control

If I could ask a software developer candidate only one question, it would be "Tell me about your favorite version control system and why you prefer it over other options." If they don't have an answer, I would consider it disqualifying.

If you are not using subversion (svn), git, or a similar source control (version control) system, you are not a competent developer, and need to learn how to use one immediately. Period. Without version control, you have no way to collaborate, track history, revert to prior versions, manage multiple versions, refactor with confidence, or fix bugs with confidence. I'll cover more details in a future post.

3.  Unit Testing

Unit testing is a long and detailed topic, which I can only touch on here. Unit testing and test-driven development (TDD) are an important way to define what software is supposed to do. In TDD, software is ready to be released, by definition, when the software passes all tests. Using unit tests allows you to make changes to complex systems while reliably knowing whether you've added the new feature successfully or accidentally broke something. Again, I'll cover unit testing and TDD in a future post in more detail.

4. Automation with Jenkins, Maven, and/or Ant or similar and Continuous Integration system

If you are manually building and deploying your software, you are likely making many errors, or wasting time, or not scaling your team. As a best practice, you should have a server running, say, Jenkins, that rebuilds the software after any changes. This can/should be integrated with version control and unit tests.

5. Understanding Software Architecture and Design Patterns

The ability to architect a project is critical to its successful completion. You wouldn't think of building a house without blue-prints, and yet people undertake complex software without any plan. You should understand how the different modules relate, where code can be reused, what components are common. And, of course, be familiar with common Design Patterns. Much more to come on this and code re-use in future blog posts.

6. Reading and Writing Documentation (Wiki, etc.)

If you can't read documentation, I don't want you on my development team. Learn how to google and read both official documentation and unofficial blogs/comments. If you can write documentation, you are infinitely more valuable. If your project isn't using a wiki, set one up. All the things you struggle with during the first week should be written down. This may include where important systems are (network drives, svn repositories, databases, utilities, installers), team contact information, or the best place to get take-out.

The arguments for/against documentation are long and sordid. I'll cover those in another blog post.

7. Understand Scalability and Repeatability

Know that every meaningful thing you do will have to be repeated in the future (See "Automation...and Continuous Integration" above).

Any meaningful piece of software will have multiple users or customers. So if a process can't be scaled or repeated, then you are probably doing something wrong. For example, if your web site fails with more than 100 concurrent users, you obviously haven't architected it properly.

Similarly, if you set up your Dev server, chances are you'll need to replicate the environment immediately for the QA server, Staging server, Production server, etc.

The same principle applies to developer set-up, customer support, etc., so consider how best to address these issues (documentation, training, scripts, etc.)

8. Estimation (time and money) and Scheduling 

Know how to build lead time into the software development cycle. I have never worked at a company where deadlines weren't important, and I've never worked at a company where people were good at estimation and scheduling.

This is a long discussion summarized by “Whatever your time estimate, multiply it by 5, even after taking this rule into account.” 

The truth is that most meaningful software is complex and largely unknown to the stakeholders when making estimates. Things regularly take five (5) times longer than anticipated because no on thought ahead as to the many cases that needed to be handled. This unanticipated issue could be something as simple as, “What should the software do when the user runs out of disk space?” to, “How should the software behave if the internet connection is dropped while performing a critical operation?”

This is another huge topic, which I'll cover in more depth in the future.

9. Know when (not) to Optimize

Your software shouldn't suck. It shouldn't suck CPU or other system resources, and it shouldn't suck up the user's time. That said, not everything needs to be optimized. For example, if you are streaming a 15 GB video, optimizing 3K worth of text downloading isn't going to meaningfully impact the user experience. Some people over-optimize too early. I've seen start-ups optimize for billions of transactions per day only to find they can't garner any customers or traffic.  I've seen other products “perfected” before ever getting to market. (See "Shipping is a Feature,")

10. Agile Development 

Agile development is a long topic that I'll cover in a future post.

Suffice to say that everything you've been doing your whole life is wrong, including how you've probably been doing agile development. In a properly functioning agile environment, there is a noticeable presence of unit tests, communication between dev/QA/biz people, user stories (aka appropriate level of specification), transparency, developer cross-training, and a shipping piece of software that functions well.

In a dysfunctional environment, there are blown schedules, unclear product direction, disjointed feature sets, buggy software, and various developers mumbling to themselves in the corner.

11. Refactoring

Refactoring is the ability to rewrite the internal functions of a module without affecting the external behavior. For example, if you refactor an “export” feature, it might have the same inputs and outputs, but operate 10x faster. The first rule of refactoring is something you would find in the Hippocratic Oath: “First, do no harm.” (Primum non nocere).

You should also understand how to, say, refactor a function to accept additional optional arguments without having to change (and without adversely affecting) any existing code that used the function prior to refactoring. This is another huge topic to be discussed in future blog posts. (See also "Unit Testing," "Using Abstraction," and "Know how to define an API...")

12. Migration

You must understand both the concepts and execution of migration.

For example, how are you going to migrate customers from version 1 to version 2? How are you going to migrate changes from the Dev environment to the QA environment? How are you going to migrate a code base from one technology to another?

This topic deserves at least one blog post of its own, which it shall receive in the future.

13. Know how to define an API and know how to use other APIs

You should to be able to separate your work from other people's (i.e. decoupling). Or, perhaps, you  need to create a toolkit for other developers (either internal or external) Often, the best way to do that is to create an API.

For example, if I was creating a video player, it should expose “hooks” for the common operations, such as loading, playing, and pausing the video. A good developer should know when and how to create and expose a public API.

Conversely, a good developer should be comfortable/fluent in reading the documentation of someone else's API and using it to achieve a goal.

See also "Architecture" and "Refactoring" above, and see "Abstraction" below.

14. Programming Reusable code (usually Object-Oriented)

If you have fifty popup dialog boxes in your product, how many different components should you write to implement them?

The answer is probably one or two, max. Yet, I have walked into countless software projects where the developers did not create and reuse components. A software project should have less code if done right, and it should be more maintainable.

Here is a good litmus test...If I asked you to change the style and width of every button in the application, how long would it take? 1 minute? An hour? A week? A month? A year?

15. Have a tech network on which you can rely

Your value increases exponentially if you can find answers quickly by relying on colleagues and/or bring them into your current place of business. Be part of other developers' network, and make them part of yours.

16. Ticketing or Workflow system, such as Jira

You must be fluent in at least one ticketing or bug-tracking piece of software, such as Jira. There are many such systems. Understand how to benefit from one and use one daily. Learn how to be an administrator, and configure dashboards, reports, etc., to maximize its utility.

Litmus test - Excel or a shared Google Doc is not a bug-tracking system.

17. Know “enough” about hardware

If you are a software expert, you need not be a hardware expert and vice-versa, but don't be an ignorant jerk. You should know when something can/should be solved by additional hardware (i.e., adding memory, a RAID backup, a faster network connection) and when it should be solved by some software solution, such as caching.

18. Know “enough” about other people's software tools  and technology

To someone with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. For example, if you know Flash/ActionScript, you may think that it is always superior to HTML/Javascript (or vice-versa). Neither is universally true (as always, the answer is “it depends on the situation”). So either make other developer tools your friend or at least “know thine enemy.” People say really stupid stuff all the time for lack of knowing a little bit about other development tools.

19. Know “enough” about the full-stack

A good developer will understand everything (at least superficially) from the front-end to the middle tier to the back-end. For example, if the user has to enter an email address, what sort of validation should be performed by the UI, what should be handled by the middle tier, and what should be handled by the back-end?

You need not be an expert in all aspects, but you need to understand enough to know when to say “No”. For example, if you are a front-end developer, and they ask you to store the user's password in plain text on the front-end, you should say, “no,” and know why you are saying no.

How do you gain such knowledge? By working with other qualified developers, asking questions, reading, listening, attending user group meetings, etc.

20. Know that Shipping is a Feature

Nothing is more frustrating to developers than being “piled on,” and then being blamed for the software delivery being late (i.e. feature creep, endless revisions to UI).

Nothing is more frustrating to everyone else than having to hound the developer to ask when the software will be ready.

Here are the magic words to solve this problem....Whenever anyone gives you a new requirement as a developer, state this loudly and clearly:

“This is a new, unanticipated feature that will adversely impact the original schedule. We need to adjust the delivery schedule, allocate more resources to the project, or remove some existing features and deprioritize them until the next version. Which of these three approaches do you prefer?”

If you say nothing, the person giving you the new requirement will assume the schedule will be on track even after adding the new feature and will blame you when that is not true.

Blanket statements such as “Any new feature raised will inevitably cause the schedule to slip or features to be dropped” are useless at best.

You must re-iterate the earlier statement every time that a new feature is requested. (Better yet, use Agile development). Another generic approach is to say, “That is a great request for version n,” where version n is at least +1 greater than the current version. You can cite a +3 higher version number in a matter-of-fact way, such as “That is a great request for version 4, but, for now, I'm focused on shipping version 1.”

21. Using Abstraction

"Abstraction" is the ability to create a “layer” of code that insulates the user from some underlying particulars. (Here, I am not discussing the formal concept of an abstract class in OOP).

Abstraction enables development of multiple modules to be decoupled.

For example, suppose I have implemented all my UI code to interact with an Oracle database. And then one day, I find out that the back-end developer has switched to a Microsoft DB. If I can't handle that change rapidly and easily, then I am a douche-bag unworthy of calling myself as developer.

In a good design, I shouldn't have programmed anything that is Oracle-specific, except for a small abstraction layer. And I should be able to easily swap it out for a Microsoft-specific abstraction layer, and everything should “just work.” The same principle applies to the theoretical video-player API discussed above. This is another huge topic that I'll address in a future post.

22. Clean up compiler warning and error messages

If I had five minutes to examine someone's code and wanted to judge how well it was written, I would use one single metric...and that is the number of compilation warnings/errors. A well-written project should have zero compilation warnings and zero compilation errors.

23. Know when (not) to Roll Your Own

The most frustrating developers are often senior coders who insist on re-inventing the wheel and writing everything from scratch (see defining/using an API). If you are not using other libraries and APIs, you are wasting your time and your employer's money. For example, there is a Java library that will export to Excel. If you are writing your own Excel export, you are a probably a douche-bag with an oversized ego or an undersized ability to google.

That said, don't be a foolish slave to what others have done in the past, and don't think you are a skilled programmer because you know how to cut-n-paste from a google search. Sometimes you do need to roll your own. Often the best compromise is an open source library that you can use as the base but then patch/extend as needed for your particular situation.

Conclusion

Well, we've covered a lot of technical topics in this discussion.

The key question is how you can relate this to a non-technical interviewer.

The answer is really simple...just translate it into something they care about such as money, time, flexibility, etc.

Here is a sample conversation:

Interviewer: "Please tell me how you think your current experience is relevant to this position"

You: "Well, can you tell me what you feel is the biggest gap in the current team or problem you are looking to solve?"

Interviewer: "Well, our biggest problem has been scalability."

You: <Insert your ingenious answer here, touching on the relevant technical topics above, such as...> "I find that the biggest obstacle to scalability is an over-reliance on the middle tier and front-end to do processing that could best be handled by a high-speed database or caching mechanism on the back end. Although my specialty is front-end architecture, I have extensive experience working with developers across the full-stack. I'm sure that if I spoke with them about the bottlenecks you're experiencing, we could come up with a solution that took best advantage of each tier's strengths."

Interviewer: "That's way too technical for me. I'd like you to come back for a second interview with the back-end and middle-tier teams"

You: "Sure thing.  I just meant to say that there are a lot of factors that impact scalability. I understand how all the system components can be optimized to get you the biggest bang for the buck. That is, my goal is not just to make a scalable application. My goal is to understand the both the business needs and technical problems, assess the time requirements and benefits of each approach, and work with the other engineers to design and implement a solution that will give us the biggest benefit in the shortest time while keeping the schedule on track."

Interviewer: "Sounds great. And I understood it too!"

You: "Are there any other major areas I can speak to before I leave?"

Interviewer: "Our other major problem is managing multiple versions of the software for multiple customers. It is a huge headache."

You: "I find in most organizations, that version management problems stem from several factors. Let me ask you, do you use a version control system, and have you put in place a migration procedure?"

Interviewer: "Maybe I should consider you for the technical lead. I need people who can think and not just program."

You: "I'm happy to discuss whatever role you feel can best leverage my skills to fill the company's most urgent needs."

(Curtain)

Please check out the ever-growing library of other blog posts on the right-hand side. Oh so fulfilling but with zero calories!